I’ve always wanted to travel north of the Arctic Circle. I came pretty close to it in Iceland but even there I fell a few degrees short. So this was a major objective of the latest journey. My wife got her half-marathon in Fairbanks, I got my arctic visit, and we both shared our bucket list adventures with the other.
However, I wasn’t about to drive up the Dalton Highway and the rental car contract forbade it anyway, and that was fine. I didn’t need to navigate a few hundred miles of potholed gravel roads. We could let someone else handle those arrangements. So we contacted the Northern Alaska Tour Company after some research. We had no trouble booking for later in the week because it was the off-season but I imagine summer might be a different story.
We decided upon the “Arctic Circle Winter Fly Drive – Southbound” option. Essentially that involved flying to Coldfoot about 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and riding back to Fairbanks in a van. The whole thing takes about 12 hours.
I know it sounds exhausting but it was the highlight of our entire journey into Interior Alaska, at least for me.
Departing Fairbanks
So the adventure began at the East Ramp Airport in Fairbanks (map). This is the general aviation side of Fairbanks International Airport, sharing a runway but distinctly separate from the main terminal. We checked in with our tour at a building that also housed Warbelow’s Air, a company that provides air services to remote villages. Then we got an orientation briefing, walked directly onto the tarmac, and boarded a twin-engine prop plane.
Flying to Coldfoot
It was a great day for the 75 minute flight north to Coldfoot. We flew sufficient below a partly cloudy sky for an unobstructed view of Interior Alaska. This included an awesome panorama of the mighty Yukon River with its dramatic curves, braids, and oxbows. Geographically, this was the Yukon Flats region, and the reasoning was abundantly obvious from above. The water basically meanders anywhere it wants to go, forming river channels, ponds, bogs and wetlands.
Look closely and you can see the runway for Stevens Village a town of 37 people disconnected from the road network (map).
But even nice weather can change quickly up here. The skies grew darker as we approached the southernmost tendrils of the Brooks Range. Out pilot skirted just to the west and easily avoided an isolated snow squall buffeting the mountains.
By then we were approaching Coldfoot and starting our descent. Being curious, I wondered how the town got its name and I assumed it derived from the numbing effects of temperatures that routinely fell to -50° Fahrenheit (-45° Celsius). In a similar vein, some speculate that early gold rush miners got “cold feet” about staying there all winter and retreated to warmer places further south. I suppose both make sense.
Coldfoot Airport
Then we arrived with one of the smoothest landings I’ve ever experienced on a plane of any size. I was surprised. I did not expect a gravel runway to rival pavement. So kudos to whoever maintains Coldfoot Airport!
The nine passengers split into two groups. One group of five would tour Coldfoot and nearby sites before flying back to Fairbanks. The other group, which included the two of us and another couple, would grab lunch at Coldfoot and then ride back in a van for the 250 mile drive to Fairbanks. And of course, even though the route followed the Dalton Highway it wasn’t a “highway” as commonly understood. It’s a slow, winding, dusty, rutted path this time of year.
Remoteness
Beyond the larger towns, Interior Alaska doesn’t have much in the way of mobile phone service. I put my phone into Airplane Mode most of the day so it wouldn’t drain the battery. However, Coldfoot was a pleasant exception.
Verizon and AT&T both had cell towers here. Verizon offered a robust 3G connection and supposedly AT&T connected at 5G, but I had a Verizon phone and I got what I got. It was good enough to hop onto Google Maps and see our precise location in the middle of nowhere. This was Mile 175 of the Dalton Highway, at the confluence of Slate Creek and the middle fork of the Koyukuk River, 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle. That is some serious remoteness.
Truck Stop
There are only three truck stops along the Dalton Highway: Yukon River Camp at Mile 56 (but already 140 miles from Fairbanks), Coldfoot Camp at Mile 175, and Deadhorse at Mile 414. Coldfoot Camp is pretty nicely situated whether coming from Fairbanks or returning from the North Slope. As expected, a lot of truckers stop here because they won’t get another chance for a long time in either direction. Gas cost $7.50 a gallon during our visit which isn’t too bad considering that they have a captive audience and fuel has to be hauled all the way up here.
Coldfoot in early October is as muddy and dusty as the photo suggests. However, the snowy season was about to start soon and cover up those issues for the next several months.
We ate lunch at the truck stop cafe, which was spartan although it covered the basics. Actually it was nicer than I anticipated given the location. Sure, it’s not Buc-ees, but what does one expect more than a hundred miles away from the next available option? The cafe building remains open 24X7 and the kitchen stays open for most of those hours. The truck stop also offers no-frills overnight accommodations for those who want to get off the road, or maybe catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. Maybe next time. We had to get back to Fairbanks.
Lynx
I’ll talk about the actual Dalton Highway drive in the next article. However, I have space limitations so I’ll mention the Lynx here instead. Yes, we saw a lynx. It bounded off into the boreal forest before I could take a photo so I’ll use this stuffed version we found at the Museum of the North as a proxy. Our driver saw only one other lynx all season and said I should tell everyone about our sighting. Apparently it’s pretty unusual.
I didn’t see a moose or a bear or a wolf on this trip, but I did see a Lynx.
Articles in the Interior Alaska Series
- Golden Heart
- Downtown Fairbanks
- Greater Fairbanks
- Parks Highway
- Coldfoot
- Dalton Highway
- Richardson Highway & More
- Memorable Signs
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr.
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